Tel Aviv and Toronto Stock Exchanges Sign Mutual Memorandum

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the institutions.

By Malkah Fleisher

First Publish: 2/10/2010, 8:32 PM / Last Update: 2/10/2010, 8:41 PM

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the institutions. The MoU signifies an official agreement to work together toward developing a stronger and more open relationship.

TASE has four other MoUs, with stock exchanges LSE (England), NASDAQ (US), SSE (China), and NYSE-Euronext (US and Europe).

The new MoU will encourage the creation of opportunities for cross listing, initiating joint conferences, working toward developing a mutual recognition agreement, and advancing means to track each other's market indices.

The Memorandum was marked by heads of TASE and the Toronto Stock Exchange with a joint opening bell ceremony at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Wednesday.

TASE CEO Ester Levanon said the agreement furthered TASE's objectives and is "a testament to the opportunity that Israel’s capital market represents for international investors seeking quality and growth," according to a joint press release issued by the two exchanges.

TASE, Israel's only stock exchange, was established before the State of Israel in September 1935. According to the press release, TASE's market capitalization in equities was over $216 billion as of January 2010.